Peter Stumpf is the former principal cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He was educated first at the Curtis Institute of Music as a student of Orlando Cole and then the New England Conservatory. He started his professional career at age sixteen as a cellist in the Hartford Symphony, then spent twelve years as associate principal of the Philadelphia Orchestra, before assuming his position at the start of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's 2002/2003 season.[1] He took a year's sabbatical from the LA Phil in 2011 to teach full-time at Indiana University's Jacob School of Music.[2] He left the orchestra permanently in 2012.[citation needed]
Stumpf is also the cellist of the Johannes String Quartet.[3] Musicians he has collaborated with include Emanuel Ax, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Mitsuko Uchida, and the Emerson String Quartet.[4]
Stumpf has also taught the cello at the New England Conservatory and USC Thornton School of Music,[1][5]